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A matriarchy is a social organizational form in which the mother or oldest female heads the family. Descent and relationship are determined through the female line. It is also government or rule by a woman or women. While those definitions apply in general English, definitions specific to the disciplines of anthropology and feminism differ in some respects. Most anthropologists hold that there are no known societies that are unambiguously matriarchal, but some authors believe exceptions may exist or may have. Matriarchies may also be confused with matrilineal, matrilocal, and matrifocal societies. A few people consider any non-patriarchal system to be matriarchal, thus including genderally equalitarian systems, but most academics exclude them from matriarchies strictly defined. In 19th century Western scholarship, the hypothesis of matriarchy representing an early, mainly prehistoric, stage of human development gained popularity. Possibilities of so-called primitive societies were cited and the hypothesis survived into the 20th century, including in the context of second-wave feminism. This hypothesis was criticized by some authors, including Camille Paglia and Cynthia Eller, and remains as a largely unsolved question to this day. Some older myths describe matriarchies. Several modern feminists have advocated for matriarchy now or in the future and it has appeared in feminist fiction. In several theologies, matriarchy has been portrayed as negative. == Definitions, connotations, and etymology == According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), ''matriarchy'' is a "form of social organization in which the mother or oldest female is the head of the family, and descent and relationship are reckoned through the female line; government or rule by a woman or women."〔''Oxford English Dictionary'' (online), entry ''matriarchy'', as accessed November 3, 2013.〕 A popular definition, according to James Peoples and Garrick Bailey, is "female dominance".〔Peoples, James, & Garrick Bailey, ''Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology'' (Australia: Wadsworth (Cengage Learning), 9th ed. 2012 (ISBN 978-1-111-30152-1)), p. 259, col. 1 (author Peoples prof. sociology/anthropology & dir. E. Asian studies, Ohio Wesleyan University, & previously taught at Univ. of California at Davis & Univ.of Tulsa & author Bailey taught anthro. at Univ. of Tulsa, sr. Fellow in anthro. at Smithsonian Institution, & scholar at School of American Research, Santa Fe).〕 Within the academic discipline of cultural anthropology, according to the ''OED'', ''matriarchy'' is a "culture or community in which such a system prevails"〔 or a "family, society, organization, etc., dominated by a woman or women."〔 In general anthropology, according to William A. Haviland, ''matriarchy'' is "rule by women".〔Haviland, William A., ''Anthropology'' (Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 8th ed. 1997 (ISBN 0-15-503578-9)), p. 579, col. 1 (author prof. anthropology, Univ. of Vermont).〕 A ''matriarchy'' is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership, moral authority, and control of property, but does not include a society that occasionally is led by a female for nonmatriarchal reasons or an occupation in which females generally predominate without reference to matriarchy, such as prostitution or women's auxiliaries of organizations run by men. According to Lawrence A. Kuzner in 1997, A. R. Radcliffe-Brown argued in 1924 that the definitions of ''matriarchy'' and ''patriarchy'' had "logical and empirical failings .... () were too vague to be scientifically useful".〔Kuznar, Lawrence A., ''Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology'' (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press (div. of Sage Publications), pbk. 1997 (ISBN 0-7619-9114-X)).〕 Most academics exclude egalitarian nonpatriarchal systems from matriarchies more strictly defined. According to Heide Göttner-Abendroth, a reluctance to accept the existence of matriarchies might be based on a specific culturally biased notion of how to define ''matriarchy'': because in a patriarchy men rule over women, a matriarchy has frequently been conceptualized as women ruling over men,〔(Goettner-Abendroth, Heide, ''Matriarchal Society: Definition and Theory'' ), as accessed January 10, 2013.〕 while she believed that matriarchies are egalitarian.〔〔Lepowsky, M. A., ''Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society'' (U.S.: Columbia University Press, 1993).〕 The word ''matriarchy'', for a society politically led by females, especially mothers, who also control property, is often interpreted to mean the genderal opposite of ''patriarchy'', but it is not an opposite (linguistically, it is not a parallel term).〔Compare, in ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (online), entry ''patriarchy'' to entry ''matriarchy'', both as accessed November 3, 2013.〕〔Eller, Cynthia, ''Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America'' (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1995 (ISBN 0-8070-6507-2)), pp. 161–162 & 184 & n. 84 (author, with doctorate in religion from Univ. of Southern Calif., taught at Yale Divinity School & Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.) (p. 184 n. 84 probably citing Spretnak, Charlene, ed., ''Politics of Women's Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power Within the Feminist Movement'' (Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1982), p. xiii (Spretnak, Charlene, ''Introduction'')).〕〔Goettner-Abendroth, Heide, ed., ''Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future: Selected Papers: First World Congress on Matriarchal Studies, 2003 () Second World Congress on Matriarchal Studies, 2005'' (Toronto, Ontario: Inanna Publications & Educ. (York Univ.), 2009 (ISBN 978-0-9782233-5-9)), pp. 1–2 (ed. a/k/a Heide Göttner-Abendroth) (ed. founder Modern Matriarchal Studies & HAGIA & was visiting prof., Université de Montréal & Univ. of Innsbruck (Austria)).〕 According to Peoples and Bailey, the view of anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday is that matriarchies are not a mirror form of patriarchies but rather that a matriarchy "emphasizes maternal meanings where 'maternal symbols are linked to social practices influencing the lives of both sexes and where women play a central role in these practices.〔Peoples, James, & Garrick Bailey, ''Humanity'', ''op. cit.'', p. 258, col. 2–p. 259, col. 1.〕 Journalist Margot Adler wrote, "literally, ... () means government by mothers, or more broadly, government and power in the hands of women."〔Adler, Margot, ''Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America'' (N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2006 (ISBN 0-14-303819-2)), p. 193 (previous editions in 1979, 1986, & 1997) (italics so in original) (author then N.Y. Bureau Chief for National Public Radio).〕 Barbara Love and Elizabeth Shanklin wrote, "by 'matriarchy,' we mean a non-alienated society: a society in which women, those who produce the next generation, define motherhood, determine the conditions of motherhood, and determine the environment in which the next generation is reared."〔Love, Barbara, & Elizabeth Shanklin, ''The Answer is Matriarchy'', in Trebilcot, Joyce, ed., ''Mothering: Essays in Feminist Theory'' (New Jersey: Rowman & Allenheld, 1983), pp. 275.〕 According to Cynthia Eller, "'matriarchy' can be thought of ... as a shorthand description for any society in which women's power is equal or superior to men's and in which the culture centers around values and life events described as 'feminine.'"〔Eller, Cynthia, ''The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future'' (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 2000 (ISBN 0-8070-6792-X)), pp. 12–13.〕 Eller wrote that the idea of ''matriarchy'' mainly rests on two pillars, romanticism and modern social criticism.〔Eller, Cynthia, ''Gentlemen and Amazons: The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory, 1861–1900'' (Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 2011).〕 The notion of matriarchy was meant to describe something like a utopia placed in the past in order to legitimate contemporary social criticism. With respect to a prehistoric matriarchal Golden Age, according to Barbara Epstein, "matriarchy ... means a social system organized around matriliny and goddess worship in which women have positions of power."〔Epstein, Barbara, ''Political Protest and Cultural Revolution: Nonviolent Direct Action in the 1970s and 1980s'' (Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of Calif. Press, cloth 1991 (ISBN 0-520-07010-0)), p. 173 and see p. 172 (author prof. on history of Consciousness Board).〕 According to Adler, in the Marxist tradition, it usually refers to a pre-class society "where women and men share equally in production and power."〔Adler, Margot, ''Drawing Down the Moon'' (2006), ''op. cit.'', p. 194.〕 According to Adler, "a number of feminists note that few definitions of the word (), despite its literal meaning, include any concept of power, and they suggest that centuries of oppression have made it impossible for women to conceive of themselves with such power."〔 Matriarchy has often been presented as negative, in contrast to patriarchy as natural and inevitable for society, thus that matriarchy is hopeless. Love and Shanklin wrote: When we hear the word "matriarchy", we are conditioned to a number of responses: that matriarchy refers to the past and that matriarchies have never existed; that matriarchy is a hopeless fantasy of female domination, of mothers dominating children, of women being cruel to men. Conditioning us negatively to matriarchy is, of course, in the interests of patriarchs. We are made to feel that patriarchy is natural; we are less likely to question it, and less likely to direct our energies to ending it.〔Love, Barbara, & Elizabeth Shanklin, ''The Answer is Matriarchy'', ''op. cit.''〕 The Matriarchal Studies school led by Göttner-Abendroth calls for an even more inclusive redefinition of the term: Göttner-Abendroth defines ''Modern Matriarchal Studies'' as the "investigation and presentation of non-patriarchal societies", effectively defining ''matriarchy'' as ''non-patriarchy''.〔(''Introduction'', in ''Second World Congress on Matriarchal Studies'' ).〕 She has also defined ''matriarchy'' as characterized by the sharing of power equally between the two genders.〔(DeMott, Tom, ''The Investigator'' (review of Bennholdt-Thomsen, Veronika, Cornelia Giebeler, Brigitte Holzer, & Marina Meneses, ''Juchitán, City of Women'' (Mexico: Consejo Editorial, 1994)) ), as accessed Feb. 6, 2011.〕 According to Diane LeBow, "matriarchal societies are often described as ... egalitarian ...",〔LeBow, Diane, ''Rethinking Matriliny Among the Hopi'', in Rohrlich, Ruby, & Elaine Hoffman Baruch, eds., ''Women in Search of Utopia: Mavericks and Mythmakers'' (N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1984 (ISBN 0-8052-0762-7)), p. 13 (author taught women's studies & Eng., teaches in Humanities Div., Cañada Coll., Calif., & directs Women's Ctr., Women's Studies, & Women's Re-entry Pgm., Cañada Coll., Calif.)〕 although anthropologist Ruby Rohrlich has written of "the centrality of women in an egalitarian society."〔Rohrlich, Ruby, ''Women in Transition: Crete and Sumer'', in Rohrlich, Ruby, & Elaine Hoffman Baruch, eds., ''Women in Search of Utopia'', ''op. cit.'', p. 37 (author prof. emeritus anthropology, Manhattan Community Coll., City Univ. of N.Y., & research assoc., Univ. of Calif., Berkeley).〕 Matriarchy is also the public formation in which the woman occupies the ruling position in a family.〔 For this usage, some scholars now prefer the term ''matrifocal'' to ''matriarchal''. Some, including Daniel Moynihan, claimed that there is a matriarchy among Black families in the United States,〔(Office of Policy Planning and Review (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, principal author), ''The Negro Family: The Case For National Action'' (U.S. Department of Labor, 1965) ), esp. (''Chapter IV. The Tangle of Pathology'' ), authorship per (''History at the Department of Labor: In-Depth Research'' ), all as accessed November 2, 2013.〕 because a quarter of them were headed by single women;〔Donovan, Josephine, ''Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions'' (N.Y.: Continuum, 3d ed. 2000 (ISBN 0-8264-1248-3)), p. 171 (author prof. Eng., Univ. of Maine), citing Moynihan, Daniel, ''The Negro Family: The Case for National Action'' (1965) ("In this analysis Moynihan asserted that since a fourth of black families were headed by single women, black society was a matriarchy .... (t )his situation undermined the confidence and 'manhood' of black men, and therefore prevented their competing successfully in the white work world.") and citing hooks, bell, either ''Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism'' (Boston: South End, 1981) or ''Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center'' (Boston: South End, 1984) (probably former), pp. 181–187 ("freedom came to be seen by some black militants as a liberation from the oppression caused by black women"), ''id.'', hooks, bell, pp. 180–181 ("many black men 'absorbed' the Moynihan ideology, and this misogyny itself became absorbed into the black freedom movement" and included this, "Moynihan's view", as a case of "American neo-Freudian revisionism where women who evidenced the slightest degree of independence were perceived as 'castrating' threats to the male identity"), and see ''id.'', hooks, bell, p. 79.〕 thus, families composing a substantial minority of a substantial minority could be enough for the latter to constitute a matriarchy within a larger non-matriarchal society. Etymologically, it is from Latin ''māter'' (genitive ''mātris''), "mother" and Greek ἄρχειν ''arkhein'', "to rule".〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=matriarchy )〕 The notion of matriarchy was defined by Joseph-François Lafitau (1681–1746), who first named it ''ginécocratie''.〔Edvard Westermarck (1921), (''The History of Human Marriage'', Vol. 3 ), London: Macmillan, p. 108.〕 According to the ''OED'', the earliest known attestation of the word ''matriarchy'' is in 1885.〔 By contrast, ''gynæcocracy'', meaning 'rule of women', has been in use since the 17th century, building on the Greek word found in Aristotle and Plutarch.〔(Liddell, Henry George, & Robert Scott, ''An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon'', for ''γυναικοκρατία'' ).〕〔(Liddell, Henry George, & Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', for ''γυ^ναικο-κρα^τέομαι'' ).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Matriarchy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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